Food, family and memories are as intertwined in the South as if woven on the same thread. At any function we attend, from a party to a wedding to a funeral, we are as likely to talk as much about the food that was there, as we are about why we are gathered. ~Mary Foreman

I'm your cook, not your doctor. ~PAULA DEEN

I found out what the secret to life is: friends. Best friends. ~Ninny Threadgoode

Sunday, January 30, 2011

New Orleans style barbecue shrimp, made with large shrimp, Creole seasoning, beer, hot sauce, olive oil, lots of Worcestershire sauce and pepper, and a sinful amount of butter.

New Orleans Style BBQ Shrimp

It is said that the recipe for New Orleans Style BBQ Shrimp was born many, many years ago at Pascal's Manale Restaurant - a nearly 100 year old eatery located on Napoleon Avenue in New Orleans, Louisiana. How the name came to be though, well, nobody really seems to know, because New Orleans Style BBQ shrimp are not smoked, or cooked on a grill, and there is never anything remotely resembling a barbecue sauce that ever touches them.

The name probably comes from the smokey flavor that the shrimp gets from the Worcestershire sauce and the spicy, peppery seasonings. Instead of a roll around in a hot tub of spiced up water, these shrimp are juked up in a spicy, heavy on the butter, yummy sauce, that is loaded with flavor and a proper southern kick. Oh yeah.

To get the true experience of New Orleans style BBQ shrimp, try to use whole, raw, head on shrimp, if at all possible, because there is a lot of flavor that comes out of the shells and natural fats of the shrimp heads. That said, even for me with a shrimping husband, extra large head on shrimp is hard to come by except for right off the boat. In fact, I was waiting all last winter and spring for The Cajun to go shrimping so I could get some nice shrimp big enough for this dish when, of course, BP interrupted those plans.

Last year the season opened early before any oil entered our shrimping waters so we ended up with smaller shrimp and no extra large ones most appropriate for this dish. Recently when The Cajun and I were passing by the big seafood market I like, I went in search of some bigger ones, but even those were all already headed. I would like to have gone even larger on the shrimp, but to be honest the price on shrimp right now, yes, even for us, is a little high for my liking. Anyway, while you can certainly get a great dish of saucy shrimp made with headless shrimp, and even with already peeled shrimp, flavor-wise, the real deal is made using those very large, head-on shrimp, so grab those for this dish whenever you can. The heads really do make a difference.

I have always prepared my BBQ shrimp in the oven, but you can do these on the stovetop in a large skillet too, which honestly may be the way many restaurants prepare individual servings anyway. Use a large, wide skillet though and do batches. Bring the sauce up to a boil, reduce the heat, toss in half of the shrimp and simmer them at medium until they are done. Remove those, do the next batch and then combine them all back together to warm them all back through. I prefer the slower method of the oven, tossing them a few times, and letting them just slowly grab up all that buttery seasoning in between those shells.

The recipe is very simple and very rich. Preheat the oven to 375 degrees F. Then, melt up a pound of butter... what? Yes. Don't faint. I did say a POUND of butter y'all. Hey, look up any good New Orleans Style BBQ Shrimp recipe and you'll see butter. Lots of butter. Soooo, let's just accept it and move along shall we? You won't actually be consuming all of that butter anyway, not really, so it's all good. You melt that butter up with some olive oil, Worcestershire, garlic, salt, Creole seasoning, and a little beer if ya like - The Cajun doesn't consume, so I don't add it. Lay them pretty shrimp out on a rimmed baking sheet.

Pour that rich sauce all over the shrimp and toss 'em around a bit.

Squeeze a lemon on top and crack fresh pepper all over the top. A lot of black pepper. All over.

Slice up another lemon and scatter those on top and bake at 375 degrees F about 10 minutes. Remove, turn, and bake another 10 to 15 minutes or until cooked through. You don't want to overcook. Remove and toss again.

Spoon the shrimp into a platter, pour the sauce over the top and scatter some green onion all around. I like to lay out a tablecloth of newspaper, with a couple of rolls of paper towels scattered around the tabletop, and serve these up in big soup bowls with plenty of juice in the bottom. Add a couple loaves of hot and crusty French bread to sop up that juice, and some high quality and very cold bottled beer.

Similar in appearance to boiled shrimp, but much messier, you'll need both hands, all your fingers, and rolled up sleeves to indulge in this dish, but it's worth all the lack of formalities - just don't wear your good clothes for his feast. Shells go right on the newspaper, and when you're done, you can just remove the bowls, roll up the paper and toss.

Preheat oven to 375 degrees F. Wrap the french bread in aluminum foil and set aside. Drain the shrimp and then transfer to a large jellyroll pan.

In a saucepan, melt the butter together with the olive oil. Add in the Worcestershire sauce, hot sauce, garlic, salt, Creole seasoning and beer. Simmer for about 15 minutes and set aside to cool slightly.

Place the wrapped bread in the oven. Spread the shrimp out on a jellyroll pan in one layer and pour the butter sauce all over the shrimp, tossing to coat. Squeeze the juice of one lemon all over the tray of shrimp. Heavily coat the shrimp all over with freshly cracked black pepper and toss slices of lemon across the top. Bake at 375 degrees F for about 25 to 30 minutes, stirring halfway.

Remove the bread and slice. You can keep the bread soft and slice it as is, or unwrap the bread the last 5 minutes of cooking to crisp it up slightly.

Serve the shrimp in large soup bowls, with plenty of juice, and slices of the hot French bread to sop up the juices.

Cook's Note: I used 3 pounds of headed shrimp, in the shell, Slap Ya Mama Hot Pepper Sauce and Zatarain's Big & Zesty Garlic Herb Creole Seasoning, which as you'll see in the photo below, is a big flake Creole seasoning. If you don't have a big flake Creole seasoning like this, use 1 teaspoon of regular Cajun or Creole seasoning and add 1/2 teaspoon each of oregano, rosemary, and thyme and a dash of dried, hot pepper flakes.

When you're done, sop up some of the left behind juices with another piece of French bread if you like, remove the dishes and roll up the newspaper.

Tip! Leftovers make a pretty darned good shrimp scampi. Prepare pasta according to package directions - spaghetti, linguine, even vermicelli all work fine. To a large skillet, add 1/2 cup of white wine and 1 garlic clove, minced fine. Bring to a boil. Toss in the shrimp and stir just to warm the shrimp through - remember they are already cooked. Season with salt and pepper to taste; add a sprinkle of parsley. Add the drained pasta and toss to thoroughly coat. Garnish with another light sprinkle of parsley. Serve immediately.

Material Disclosure: Unless otherwise noted, you should assume that post links to the providers of goods and services mentioned, establish an affiliate relationship and/or other material connection and that I may be compensated when you purchase from a provider. You are never under any obligation to purchase anything when using my recipes and you should always perform due diligence before buying goods or services from anyone via the Internet or offline.

I first had this at Ruth's Chris Steakhouse. Sure it's not what people consider "BBQ" but if you say "NO BBQ Shrimp" I think the majority of the country knows what you are talking about because this dish is a classic in it's own right, similar to Charleston Shrimp and Grits.

This sounds so delish. I made your red beans and rice last week, I found baby red beans they were so tasty. My husband requested the red beans for superbowl. I might have to make a batch of these shrimp also. I think I should just print up your whole blog. Everything I have made is just so darn good.

Drool. This is absolutely my favorite food, *ever*. I first had a similar version at a little bar/grill on Perdido Key, FL. I am certain your version will beat theirs, I look forward to trying it when I can get some decent shrimp (in central AL). Thanks so much for posting this!

Girl I tried order these gluten free just last night and the owner of our French/Creole restaurant told me that they always have beer on them. I was crushed thinking I could never have BBQ Shrimp again, and then I read this! I'm so excited!! Thank you!!!!

I now know that I've gotta bust my butt and get some work done so I can head on down to the store and grab the stuff to make this. It sounds absolutely amazing.

It's when I find seafood or cajun/creole recipes that sound amazing like this one, that I wonder what the heck this Texan was thinking moving out to Colorado. Shrimp can get expensive up here and man do I miss me some crawfish.

Been looking for this recipe for yrs.. Used to be able to order this at a small Italian restaurant in Wilmington Del that specialized in hot blue crabs served on newspaper.. huge things served steaming hot covered in old bay and some hot seasoning... this dish was one of their most popular appetizers.. they had it brought in weekly from new Orleans from a home cook who made huge batches. Since they had a crab cleaning house there they just bought it from her and shipped it with the crabs.. Had to order it before 8 PM because after that it would be sold out.hat was served with a hot Italian roll for sopping up..

Mary, this is one of the best shrimp recipes ever. Thanks so very much for posting this. You can never make enough of these for guest...they are so addictive and you are right...you MUST have crusty French bread to serve with these. I made 5 lbs of shrimp for 4 people and there we NO leftovers (just full bellies)...........YUM!

Thanks for taking the time to comment - I love hearing from readers and I read every single comment and try to respond to them right here on the site, so stop back by!

From time to time, anonymous restrictions and/or comment moderation may be activated due to comment spam. I also reserve the right to edit, delete or otherwise exercise total editorial discretion over any comments left on this blog.

Hey Y’all! Welcome to some good ole, down home southern cooking. Pull up a chair, grab some iced tea, and 'sit a bit' as we say down south. If this is your first time visiting Deep South Dish, you can sign up for FREE updates via EMAIL or RSS feed, or you can catch up with us on Facebook and Twitter too!

You don’t have to cook fancy or complicated masterpieces – just good food from fresh ingredients. ~Julia Child

The classic southern plate for supper is made up of meat and three, cornbread or rolls & a tall glass of sweet iced tea.

Oftentimes what makes a recipe southern, is as much a state of mind as it is a matter of geography - Southerners simply decide a particular food is southern, and that's that." ~Rick McDaniel, Food Historian

DISCLAIMER: This is a recipe site intended for entertainment. By using this site and these recipes you agree that you do so at your own risk, that you are completely responsible for any liability associated with the use of any recipes obtained from this site, and that you fully and completely release Mary Foreman and Deep South Dish LLC and all parties associated with either entity, from any liability whatsoever from your use of this site and these recipes.

ALL CONTENT PROTECTED UNDER THE DIGITAL MILLENNIUM COPYRIGHT ACT. CONTENT THEFT, EITHER PRINT OR ELECTRONIC, IS A FEDERAL OFFENSE. Recipes may be printed ONLY for personal use and may not be transmitted, distributed, reposted, or published elsewhere, in print or by any electronic means. Seek explicit permission before using any content on this site, including partial excerpts, all of which require attribution linking back to specific posts on this site. I have, and will continue to act, on all violations.